


Frog Punching

by wortmalerei



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Gen, Pepe is an unfortunate victim in this endeavor, Pepe the frog is also a main character, bc listen they're adorable together, i was having way too much fun with this, no frog plushies have been permanently harmed in the creation of this story, really just a silly excuse to write way too many words about hwanwoong and seoho being cute, setting this to T just to be super safe, warning: there is violence against frog plushies in this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:21:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26138788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wortmalerei/pseuds/wortmalerei
Summary: Hwanwoong looks down at Pepe. Pepe stares back.With a dawning horror, Hwanwoong gently lowers Pepe back down onto the other bags, making sure to situate him comfortably. “Sorry,” he whispers, giving Pepe a gentle pat.(Or: Hwanwoong accidentally turns into a frog bully. It snowballs from there until murder is on the horizon -- it's just not clear whether it's Pepe or Hwanwoong who will be killed.)
Relationships: Lee Seoho & Yeo Hwanwoong
Comments: 9
Kudos: 51





	Frog Punching

Hwangwoong hadn’t meant for it to become a thing like that, he really hadn’t. 

It starts innocently enough. He knows Seoho-hyung was joking of course when he picked Pepe over Hwanwoong (again!) in that recording, but even though he knows intellectually, he can’t entirely suppress the tiny pang of hurt and resentment. How could a stupid stuffed frog win over a living, breathing dongsaeng, even as a joke? So when he walks past the Pepe bag later in the dorm, sitting next to the couch in the abandoned living room, he hesitates only for a moment before he gives it a small kick. 

As expected, Pepe doesn’t protest this violent treatment and Hwanwoong gets a small measure of satisfaction from getting one over the stupid frog. His conscience rears its head when he gets to their room and sees the Seoho-shaped lump under the covers, so he whispers an extra-nice good night. 

-

It all would have been settled with that if Dongju and Keonhee hadn’t been so adamant on teasing Hwanwoong with being second to Pepe for the next several days. Any retorts Hwanwoong makes (“He wouldn’t have picked _you_ over Pepe either!”) get drowned out by their loud cackles. It’s infuriating. 

Since Hwanwoong had the misfortune to be placed in a group of giants, his chances of successfully getting physical revenge against Dongju and Keonhee are slim, which is why he withdraws to the other side of their waiting room in a huff. The staff kindly move a few clothing racks until he can hide in a corner. It’s cozy with all the clothes and bags around him, and he can listen to the bustling room without anyone accosting him, which is nice. Hwanwoong is very content in his spot, until he spies Pepe’s grumpy face staring at him from the rack right next to him. The audacity! Hwanwoong glares right back, but of course Pepe remains unimpressed. Annoyed, Hwanwoong reaches out and gives Pepe a good sock right in the mouth. 

Pepe glowers at him, so Hwanwoong punches him a second time, and then a third for good measure. Pepe’s legs are swinging wildly by then, giving Hwanwoong a great sense of accomplishment, and he might have abused the frog a bit more, hadn’t Youngjo poked his head around the rack shielding Hwanwoong from view, wearing a puzzled frown. 

“What’re you doing in the corner?”

Hwanwoong lowers his fist, putting on his best innocent face. “Hiding from the temptation to kill my team members.”

“Ahh.” Youngjo gives him a fond smile. “Are they being annoying again? Do you want me to punish them?”

Hwanwoong wrinkles his nose. “Not even those brats deserve your ‘punishments’, hyung. Go kiss your mirror image or something.”

Youngjo pulls an aggrieved face. “Yah, get out of there. I think I deserve that corner more than you after that.”

He’s not wrong, so Hwanwoong laughs at him and gets up. Youngjo does make an attempt to dive into the cozy corner, but Hwanwoong catches his arm and drags him back into the main room. Avoiding Dongju and Keonhee, he makes a beeline for where Seoho and Geonhak are sitting on a couch on their phones and only abandons Youngjo’s arm when he can seamlessly latch himself onto Seoho’s side instead. It’s guilt at being so mean to Pepe that has Hwanwoong cuddling extra close, hooking his chin over Seoho’s shoulder. 

“Hm?” Seoho questions without ever looking away from his screen. 

“Nothing, nothing. Let me hide here for a bit, hyung.”

In response, Seoho re-arranges his arm so Hwanwoong can more comfortably curve around it and Hwanwoong relaxes with a content smile.

-

The third time Pepe becomes an assault victim is because he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It’s a day where Hwanwoong is boiling with frustration at how his body refuses to cooperate during practice, how it aches and twinges instead of producing the moves he can picture so clearly in his head. He drags himself home in a mood, and after his shower he collapses onto the couch to stare at the ceiling and sulk. 

“What’s wrong with you,” Dongju says and gives him a judging look, before softly patting his cheek. “Don’t make that face, you’ll get wrinkles.”

Keonhee tuts at him sympathetically. “It's just an off day, don't think too much. Just sleep early tonight and it’ll be fine.” He bustles away with an encouraging smile. 

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Geonhak tells him, ruffling his hair. “Get some rest and try again tomorrow.”

Youngjo sits down near his feet, grabbing his calves to gently shake his legs. “Don’t wallow on the couch all night, hm? At least get some sleep later, in your actual bed, okay?” He leaves with a kiss to Hwanwoong’s forehead which Hwanwoong wipes off with a huff.

Seoho is the only one who walks past without a word, simply brushing Hwanwoong’s bangs off his forehead silently before he retreats to their room. 

It’s annoying how all their comfort doesn’t do much to lessen Hwanwoong’s frustration. Conversely, being annoyed at not feeling comforted adds fuel to the fire and so Hwanwoong ends up seething even more than before they all made the effort to cheer him up. He really wants to scream, but that would disturb the neighbors, so he’s left with crossing his arms and huffing periodically. When that starts to feel like too little, he jumps up from the couch to pace. His stalking takes him right past the jumble of bags they left near the door as they came home, and to Pepe’s misfortune, his long green legs stick out of the pile, making Hwanwoong stop in his tracks when he sees them. 

The dorm is dim and silent. Nobody is around to witness Hwanwoong staring at the frog legs like a tiger who has discovered prey. 

He barely hesitates before he pounces, pulling on Pepe’s legs until his frog face comes into view, then drawing his fist back to smash it right into the judging eyes. There is no escaping for Pepe. Hwanwoong punches him right in the stupid face until he’s a little out of breath, sitting on his haunches before their assorted bags, one hand clenched into a fist, the other clutching Pepe in a strangle-hold.

Hwanwoong looks down at Pepe. Pepe stares back. 

With a dawning horror, Hwanwoong gently lowers Pepe back down onto the other bags, making sure to situate him comfortably. “Sorry,” he whispers, giving Pepe a gentle pat. His frustration at himself has evaporated, leaving room for the inevitable guilt at abusing Seoho-hyung’s innocent frog toy. 

As silently as possible, Hwanwoong gets to his feet and sneaks into their bedroom. The lights are out, and he can hear the cacophony of noisy breathing that signals they’re all asleep. His heart sits heavy in his chest at the memory of pummeling Pepe, and the thought of climbing into his cold bed is not attractive at all. Closing the door behind himself, Hwanwoong wavers only a moment before he inches his way to Seoho’s bed. His shins bump the mattress and he blindly reaches out his hands to grab the edge of the covers and slide underneath. He worms forward until he’s pressed up against Seoho’s back, toasty warm from sleep.

“Hnh?” Seoho turns his head in sleepy confusion. 

“Sorry hyung,” Hwanwoong whispers, but doesn’t let go.

“S’mthing happen?” Seoho mumbles, reaching out a questing hand to pat Hwanwoong’s hip.

Hwanwoong pushes aside any thoughts of beating up Pepe. “No, just a rough day.” He pauses. “D’you want me to leave?”

Seoho yawns. “All good. Sleep.” He clumsily pats Hwanwoong’s hip again, before folding his arm back up to grab the hand Hwanwoong had snaked around his chest. From the way he stills, he must sink right back into sleep, so Hwanwoong closes his eyes as well. He allows the warmth under the covers and the comfort of Seoho’s steadily rising and falling chest to seep into his muscles and relax them until he drifts off.

-

Maybe bullying stuffed toys is addicting or maybe Hwanwoong has more of a mean streak than he likes to admit, but Pepe accidentally becomes a regular victim of Hwanwoong’s stress relief. He really tries to keep it to a minimum because he always feels guilty afterwards, to the degree that he tends to seek out Seoho to secretly express his contrition with extra affection. Thankfully, Seoho is rather oblivious to such things -- Dongju, however, is not. 

Hwanwoong actually gets caught red-handed one night -- or maybe red-footed, because when he looks up from giving Pepe a passing kick, Dongju is staring at him from the living room, arms folded across his chest. 

Hwanwoong freezes. 

“Explain,” Dongju demands.

Hwanwoong scrambles to come up with an excuse. “Uh, I tripped over it on the way to the kitchen so I just wanted to--”

“You’re an awful liar,” Dongju interrupts. He uncrosses his arms and pads closer. “Why do you keep beating up Pepe?”

“Keep?” Hwanwoong repeats, eyes wide.

Dongju gives him an unimpressed look. “I’m not blind. This has been going on for a while. Are you angry at Seoho-hyung?”

“No!” Hwanwoong rapidly shakes his head. 

“Hmmm…” Dongju squints at him, calculating. “Is this why you’ve been clinging to Seoho-hyung so much recently? Guilty conscience?”

Hwanwoong feels caught and like he’s about to be dissected any moment, all in the name of science. “Dongju-yah… Please don’t tell him. He’d be so angry!” Pleadingly, he grabs Dongju’s sleeves.

Dongju sighs. “Hyung, you can’t just keep beating the stuffing out of Pepe.”

“I know! I won’t!”

With another sigh, Dongju gently frees his sleeves from Hwanwoong’s fingers. “Alright. I won’t say anything -- for now. Please stop punching the frog, though, or Seoho-hyung will make you into Pepe-feed.”

-

Having Dongju’s perceptive gaze on him helps a lot to stop Hwanwoong in his tracks whenever he feels the need to give Pepe a good cuff. Unfortunately, the habit has become so ingrained by now that it doesn’t do away with Hwanwoong’s toy-targeted aggression entirely. He tries for four long weeks. He really, really tries, but then he sees Seoho coddling the stupid frog toy and gets the urge to stomp on his stuffed legs all over again. 

If only it were actually a cute plushie, he muses sadly, giving Pepe the stink-eye across the car. Pepe dispassionately gazes back. From the back, Dongju viciously kicks Hwanwoong’s seat, which finally makes him tear his eyes away from the green menace.

Back at their dorm, Dongju digs his nails into Hwanwoong’s arm and drags him into the closet. “You need an intervention. I’m telling Seoho-hyung tonight.”

“ _What_?!” Hwanwoong’s voice actually goes into a screech. “No! You can’t!”

“If you don’t get stopped, there will be a murder,” Dongju hisses back. 

“There will be a murder anyways because Seoho-hyung will kill me,” Hwanwoong wails. 

Dongju glares at him. “You should have thought of that before using Pepe as your punching bag.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Hwanwoong protests, but it falls on deaf ears. Dongju sweeps out of the room in a mantle of resolute dignity, leaving Hwanwoong to panic all by his lonesome. Images of his impending doom are flashing before his eyes, the cold ruthlessness that comes out in Seoho when someone messes with Pepe, and Hwanwoong has to shake his head to clear them out. In a desperate attempt to avoid the inevitable, he stumbles out of the closet to fuss over Seoho, hoping to create goodwill. 

He’s miserable all night, waiting for the dangling blade to fall, but it’s not until he slinks out of the shower that Dongju assaults him and drags him in front of the couch. Seoho and (thank God!) Youngjo are sitting on the beat-up cushions, Pepe lying spread-eagle on the coffee table in front of them. Dongju must have spilled all, because Seoho looks like someone just flipped over his world. Youngjo, with wise precaution, has his arms locked firmly around Seoho’s torso to keep him from jumping up. 

“Woongie,” Seoho says, voice small and broken. “You -- Pepe…”

Hwanwoong can’t stand the way Seoho looks at him with those sad eyes, so he hides his face in his hands. “I’m so sorry, hyung…”

“But why?” Seoho sounds genuinely dumbfounded.

This is the part where Hwanwoong really, really, _really_ wishes he had a good, reasonable explanation. Like, _Green frogs trigger my fight or flight response._ Or, _Pepe offered to help me train my martial arts_. But he has nothing but a stupid moment of hurt and resentment that somehow snowballed into something uncontrollable. “It was an accident,” he says instead, lowering his hands so Seoho can see his apologetic expression. “I just meant to punch him once, just one time, and then it just… happened again and again. I’m so, so sorry.”

Seoho’s brows are creased in confusion, but contrary to Hwanwoong’s imagination, he’s not trying to get out of Youngjo’s hold to strangle Hwanwoong on the spot. He just sits there, hands in his lap, shoulders slumped, and stares at Hwanwoong like he’s never seen him before. Somehow that’s worse. 

Youngjo seems to realize that there is no impending danger of bloodshed and so cautiously lifts away his arms. When Seoho remains still, he gets up from the couch and gestures to Dongju. “C’mon, let’s leave them alone to talk it out.”

Dongju, for all that he brought Hwanwoong into this situation, gives his shoulder an encouraging squeeze as he walks past. They disappear into the five-bed room and close the door, leaving Seoho and Hwanwoong in silence. 

Hwanwoong shifts uncomfortably in his place, uncertain how to deal with this soulless version of Seoho. Finally, he decides to just risk it and slowly inches his way around the coffee table to take a seat on the couch as well. They sit in silence for a while, Hwanwoong fidgeting and Seoho still as a statue. 

“Why did you mean to punch him once?” Seoho finally asks, making Hwanwoong jump at the sudden noise.

Of all the questions… Hwanwoong squirms in his seat, wishing he would have an epiphany to talk himself out of this one, but then Seoho looks over at him and he just can’t lie to Seoho’s face like that, so he sighs. “It’s completely stupid. Please kill me for real after I say this.” He sighs again and because he doesn’t want to look at Seoho while he says this, he looks at the ceiling. “You picked Pepe, I was hurt, so I punched him. Once.”

“Huh?” 

“Pepe vs. Hwanwoong?” Hwangwoon says. “That time?”

Seoho starts in his seat, turning to look at him fully. “What? But that was a joke! I was joking.”

“I knooow,” Hwanwoong whines, burying his face in his hands again. “That’s why it’s embarrassing! I know it was a joke and I still was a bit hurt.”

“What even…” Seoho mutters under his breath, but he slings an arm around Hwanwoong’s shoulders and squeezes comfortingly. 

After he had expected to be pinched and wrestled within an inch of his life, the affectionate arm feels like paradise. Hwanwoong uses the opening to shamelessly pitch sideways until he can bury his face into the hard muscle of Seoho’s thigh. “I’m so sorry, Minnie-hyung, really.” There is a sigh above him, and Hwanwoong intently nuzzles into Seoho’s leg to show how apologetic he is.

“Yah,” Seoho says, using the grip on Hwanwoong’s shoulder to shake him, “you can’t ever punch Pepe again, okay? No kicking either.” He shakes again, uncomfortably squishing Hwanwoong’s nose against his leg. “Got it?”

“Got it!” Hwanwoong quickly promises.

Seoho adjusts his grip so his fingers dig into Hwanwoong’s neck to roughly shake him again. “Got it?”

“Aaaah,” Hwanwoong whines, “got it, hyung! Got it!”

Seoho holds the grip for a second longer before finally letting go. “Good.” Looping an arm around Hwanwoong’s chest, Seoho drags him along as he leans back into the couch. 

Hwanwoong blinks at the unexpected motion. It seems like he’s forgiven? Uncertain, he stays stock-still, hardly daring to breathe, until Seoho starts humming above him. Relief is a burst of sparkling bubbles in Hwanwoong’s belly.

He feels lighter inside than he has in weeks, basking in the happy feeling of being free of his conscience and getting the rare opportunity to peacefully cuddle on the couch with Seoho like this. With a happy sigh, he snuggles closer to the warm leg underneath his cheek. Seoho gives his ribs a gentle pat, then he suddenly shifts and Hwanwoong watches in amazement as Seoho stretches out a leg to nudge the Pepe doll right off the coffee table and out of view. He makes a content noise, relaxing back into the couch cushions before he resumes his soft patting motion over Hwanwoong’s ribs. 

Hwanwoong grins to himself and eventually lets his eyes close. _Take that, Pepe._


End file.
